Cork’s ‘mystery’ steps on Horgan’s Quay have been closed for more than a year. Why?
Cork’s ‘mystery’ steps on Horgan’s Quay have been closed for more than a year. Why?
"There's enormous appetite for them from commuters and they will open a new route from St Luke's for people by foot to the city."
When it's complete, Horgan's Quay could well be the "largest integrated office, residential, and hotel development" in Cork City, but fences around a flight of stairs, which were built more than a year ago, are blocking an access route in and out of the area.
The steps, leading up from Horgan's Quay to the Lower Glanmire Road, were completed in 2022 on the €160m site, which is being developed by Clarendon Properties and BAM Ireland.
However, in all that time, the shortcut has been inaccessible as fences are blocking the stairs.
The issue has been raised at least twice with Cork City Council.
Tripe + Drisheen asked BAM Ireland why the access route to the Lower Glanmire Road is barricaded. A spokesperson from their PR agency said, "BAM at this time does not have any comment on the query."
Likewise, we asked Clarendon Properties why the steps remained closed. However, no response has been forthcoming.
For visitors to the city arriving by train at Kent Station, especially those with business at Horgan's Quay, where both Apple and International Workplace Group have offices, or those staying at The Dean hotel, the steps down from the Lower Glanmire Road would represent a significant shortcut to Horgan's Quay.
While there is an underground access route through Kent Station to Horgan's Quay, many first-time visitors to the city are unaware of that route and instead exit through the main entrance of the train station onto the Lower Glanmire Road.
Councillor Oliver Moran of the Green Party has raised the issue twice in relation to the pedestrian crossing that has been installed close by to the barricaded steps, which allows people to safely cross the road to and from Clifton Terrace en route from the city to St Luke's, and vice versa.
In a response to Cllr Moran in May 2022, David Joyce, a director of services with Cork City Council, said, "The City Council continues to engage with the developer in relation to this matter and will revert with a further update in due course."”
Fast forward a year, and that engagement has little to show, as the steps are still fenced off.
This week, Tripe+Drisheen asked Cork City Council for updates on the consultation process with the developers. As of publishing the City Council had not replied.
Cllr Moran told T+D that it was “very disappointing from the developers to not even give an indication of the reasons for keeping the steps closed. There's enormous appetite for them from commuters and they will open a new route from St Luke's for people by foot to the city centre.
"It's been like this for over a year now, with no indication being given to Cork City Council either when asked about it. If it was a matter of a short delay, I could understand it, but it keeps dragging on with no communication from BAM and no explanation for the public."
Shane Clarke, CEO of the VQ, a lobby group which represents businesses in the area, complemented the design of Horgan’s Quay but said that anything that could improve the permeability of the area would be welcome.
Elsewhere in the city, BAM has erected fences around the plaza outside the Counting House on South Main Street. The developer is slated to build the Events Centre on the site of the former Beamish & Crawford Brewery. The "sod" was turned on that site in 2016, with the State set to contribute €50 million in grant aid under the National Development Plan. Cork City Council is part of the Events Centre consortium.
Meanwhile, across the river at Sullivan's Quay, another BAM site is boarded up, but this time with green hoarding surrounding the former tax office that once housed Sample-Studios. That building was demolished in 2018, and the site has planning permission for a hotel. However. However, it is, in the words of CorkBeo, a “giant dusty hole”.
